Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois

i own a home. if a child puts there hand thru a fence thats on my property and,my dog bites them am i responsible?


Asked on 1/16/10, 9:16 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

"maybe". Sorry. While there is a basic rule that someone who intentionally trespasses can not recover from a landowner for injuries sustained through obvious hazards (and some not-so-obvious hazards) on the land, unfortunately there are too many unknowns that could swing things either way. The following are some of the kinds of questions an attorney would ask you if you were sued for a child's dog-bite injuries and came to him/her for advice or you reported it to your insurance company and they assigned an attorney to defend you.....

Responsible for what (the child's injuries presumably - or do you mean for then having to put the dog down?) Did your dog have proper tags and vaccinations? How old is the child (just because there's a fence doesn't mean the child understood it separated your property from his/her parents -- it could have been meaningless or the child may have only understood it to keep the dog safe from not wandering off) What kind of fence? (wood pickets? full privacy? chain link? -- can one readily see beyond the fence?) Just because the fence is on your property, is it really yours? or does the neighbor's fence encroach on your property? If it was yours why did you put it up - to keep the child off your property? - because you knew the dog might defend its turf this way? Was there any warning plainly posted (by the way "beware of dog" doesn't necessarily get you off -- the warning doesn't necessarily mean the dog bites....and "no trespassing" doesn't necessarily warn of a dog....). How long did you have the dog and was the child aware of the dog and did it act this way before? (attractive nuisance possibility) Was this an accidental playful "nip", or is this the umpteenth time the dog has bitten someone, or the "first time", or did the child tease the dog? (these are all factual issues). How old and what condition is the dog in? (a puppy? mature? blind?) What breed is the dog? (Pit bull? good luck!)

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Answered on 1/21/10, 10:48 am


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